Brandon Crawford strikes out on ball four in the All-Star Game

With Buster Posey resting for health, and Brandon Belt getting criminally robbed, the San Francisco Giants lone representative at the 2018 MLB All-Star Game was Brandon Crawford.

But Crawford is one heck of a representative, and was very deserving of the starting nod at shortstop. Unfortunately, baseball fans who don’t watch him every day didn’t get to see his defensive wizardry, as the American League once again proved its inferiority by failing to hit any balls in Crawford’s direction.

Fans did, however, get to see his face, and his family charm, so that’s very nice for them.

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Offensively, it was a rough All-Star Game for Crawford. In his first at-bat, he struck out swinging against Yankees ace Luis Severino. In his second at-bat, he worked the count full against Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez, then took a pitch about six inches outside. It was called strike three, which in no way at all was due to any pre-determined league agenda.

If I sound bitter about a bad call in an exhibition game, it’s because I am. Look at this! Look how far outside that pitch is!

And yes, Pitch 5 could have been called strike three, but who cares. That was 50/50 call. Pitch 8 was a “oh no baby what is you doing” call. So I’m going to be mad at it, and my hope is that Crawford is so steaming that he hits .400/.500/.750 for the rest of the season.

So that was Crawford’s All-Star Game: 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts, but, like Michael Jordan in Space Jam, he looked great striking out.